Poison and Scars
by CatsWatchBatman
Summary: Ivy needs a little help, and it comes from an unexpected place. Could be friendship or romance depending on how you look at it. Rated T for Zsasz.


Her escape from Arkham had been easy enough, up until her means of transportation didn't show up. So here she was. Walking through the back alleys of Gotham and giving a little kiss to anyone who saw her. The level of toxicity wouldn't kill them, but they'd have a nasty headache in the morning.

She just needed to reach one of her conservatories or find a park. The only problem was she didn't know where she was. The dank alleyways and poor visibility didn't help. Plants weren't exactly known for having good eyesight. Her foot caught on something and she tipped forward. Cursing the object she turned to see... a dead body.

Now she had no sympathy for the meat bags, but it still surprised her. She backed away quickly and took a moment to regain her composure. Finally she went back and examined him. His neck was sliced open with a knife and he was holding a teddy bear.

She knew that matched someone's. M.O. But who? She wanted to say Jervis, but his usually had to do with wonderland and he wasn't a fan of knives. The teddy bear itself reminded her of Bane, but he too didn't usually use knives either and he killed with a purpose. This was a man of no importance.

She kept thinking about it and turned the corner to have a knife at her throat.

He followed the man down an alley. He was grateful for this, it made what he did less noticeable. He didn't really like attention. The man stopped next to the wall.

"I know your following me. I don't know why, but I'm sure whatever they've payed you I can double."

Pay? He didn't work for money. This poor man was clearly confused, and needed to be put out of his misery. Luckily he had connections. He pulled out his knife and gave it a loving pat.

"Good thing." His skin started to itch. He needed to do it soon. He needed to help this man. So he advanced.

"No money please, helping you is payment enough." The man turned but he and his knife were hidden in the shadows.

"Helping me? What do you mean?" Oh this poor poor man. He started twitching as he felt the need grow stronger.

"I'm saving you from the terror that is life. Now stay still. Don't make this any harder."

"What? No, you can't-" the man's voice was cut off as he jumped and slit his throat. The man collapsed to the ground curled up. As the light left the man's eyes He felt extreme pleasure, running his knife across his skin to add the much needed mark.

Next came the plain old fun part, he looked around and saw an old teddy buried in trash. He grabbed he thing and placed it carefully in the freed man's arms. There wasn't much more to do, but he heard footsteps slowly getting closer. He went behinds corner and his in darkness. Listening carefully.

He heard them trip, most likely over the body. The high pitched curses suggested I was a girl, but the breathy tone sounded slightly familiar. He frowned. Things were rarely familiar and when they were it was never good. She wasn't panicking, that was for sure. Obviously this person was used to dead bodies. A cop perhaps? That would explain why the voice was familiar, yet he wasn't sure. So as she walked towards his hiding place he whipped out and balanced his knife at her neck.

"Ivy?"

"Zsasz?" She stared at him in surprise and slight irritation at the bloody knife at her neck. Well, at least she knew who killed the man know. No wonder she hadn't remembered. Zsasz had evaded capture for several months now and had been on the down low. He seemed just as surprised to see her. She wondered if his 'free living things' of life applied to the other rogues. She decided to press her luck.

"Put the knife down." Venom seeped from her voice.

"Of course." He said simply and put the knife away.

She didn't think it would be that easy. "Miss Isley may I ask what you're doing in this area of town, it seems unusual." He was acting far from the usual murdering psychopath she saw in the news. Didn't she hear the Doctors say he had an insatiable need to 'free people from life'?

"I escaped from Arkham and lost my ride." Ivy said cautiously.

"A shame. Are you lost?" He asked curiously. She was confused by his demeanor. She remembered a conversation with Harley at Arkham.

_"Mistah J made a deal with him once. Got him to kill someone, cause that way it would seem like just another Zsasz killing. The whole time they conversed it seemed like Vic was holding himself back from killing everyone in the room. Making a visible effort. By the time he left his forehead was soaked in sweat."_

"I'm lost if you know where the closest park is," he just nodded and started walking off, she realized a second later he wanted her to follow. She had some respect for this man. He never discriminated over who he killed. Never took into account race, gender, religion, age or anything. He just killed humans. A thing she could appreciate.

The marks that covered his body were fascinating. One for each kill, a ritual. Some of the other Rogues were probably fascinated by his psychosis, she remembered Crane and Harley getting into a psychology discussion in which Zsasz name came up several times.

Ivy felt the need to poke a sleeping bear, a habit that saved her life as many times as it had gotten her thrown into Arkham.

"Why haven't you killed me?"

They had been walking in silence for some time. He had heard of Pamela Isley. Another person who had been enlightened to life's cruelty. Being used by a man who claimed to love her and experimented on. She could see how life was cruel, though she probably wasn't as enlightened as she. She wanted to kill them as punishment, he just wanted to free them.

"Why haven't you killed me?" Her breathy voice came again from behind him. He turned and started walking backwards, he knew the whole layout of every cranny of Gotham by heart, it was how he worked.

"Why should I, you are already free." She looked at him dubiously.

"I'm not dead." He shook his head.

"No, no, but you have been freed from living and are a higher being. One who can survive and has nature at her back. You are no longer human and no longer have humanity tightening the noose on you neck. You. Are. Free." His mind relaxed as he talked of freedom and of escape. She seemed slightly enamored with his words, but who didn't like being praised? He could see her brain sorting through this new information and for a split second he could see enlightenment, but then she shut down... mostly.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"You haven't killed me either." He mumbled.

She heard his words and felt after the amazing way he had answered her question, she could a least answer his.

"For one, there seems to be an unspoken Rogue's code, I don't kill you, you don't kill me. Seems fair, but there is something else. I have some respect for you. You don't discriminate your killings by race or religion or anything. I respect that. Also you once killed a man named Henry Sletskiv." She watched him try to remember the man, but she could tell he never cared about names. "He was planning on chopping down a rainforest for construction. You killed him on his way home from work, I was in Arkham at the time and couldn't do anything. You can't imagine how relieved I was when I saw on the news you killed him. Those poor trees. He was going to kill them all, every last shrubbery." He didn't laugh at her cooing and that made her feel better. Even Harley sometimes chuckled when she went into mother mode.

"You seem as passionate about nature as I am about saving people. I feel as though we could work together peacefully. Right now however, I leave you here. Good day Miss Ivy." With that he stopped walking backwards and started forwards. She had a great deal to mull over. Zsasz wasn't half bad. She turned around and found herself right outside her favorite Green house. Now that was a surprise.


End file.
